Chittagong (film)

Chittagong is a 2012 Indian historical war drama film directed by Bedabrata Pain.[9][10][11] It stars Manoj Bajpayee in the lead role and is based upon events of British India's Chittagong Uprising.[12][13] The film features music by trio Shankar Ehsaan Loy and sound by Resul Pookutty.[14] The world premier of film was on 10 April 2012.[15] Chittagong released on 12 October 2012 and nett grossed Rs 3.1 million at the Indian box office. This movie won the 60th National Film Awards for the Best Debut Film of a Director.

This is about the 2012 Hindi film. For the south-eastern port city in Bangladesh, see Chittagong.

Chittagong
Theatrical release poster
Directed byBedabrata Pain[1]
Produced byBedabrata Pain
Written byBedabrata Pain
Shonali Bose
StarringManoj Bajpayee
Nawazuddin Siddiqui
Rajkumar Rao
Vega Tamotia
Sauraseni Maitra
Jaideep Ahlawat
Alexx ONell
Music byShankar-Ehsaan-Loy
CinematographyEric Zimmerman
Edited byAldo Velasco
Distributed byBohra Bros
Release date
  • 12 October 2012 (2012-10-12)
[2][3]
Running time
105 minutes
CountryIndia
Language
  • Hindi
  • Bengali
  • English
Budget₹4.5 crore (US$630,000)[4]
Box office₹31 lakh (US$43,000)
(3rd week domestic nett)[5][6][7][8]

Plot

The story is set against the backdrop of a little-known saga in 1930s British colonial India's East Bengal (now Bangladesh) where a group of schoolboys and young women, led by a schoolteacher Masterda Surya Sen (Manoj Bajpayee), dared to take on the Empire. Chittagong is the story of a diffident 14-year-old boy, Jhunku (Delzad Hiwale). Swept up into this seemingly impossible mission, the reluctant teenager battles with self-doubts to achieve an improbable triumph.

Jhunku, now a 23-year-old youth, is being chased by the Bengal police. He hides himself in a bunker with his childhood friend Aparna (Apu/Opu). While hiding, he begins to reflect on his past hopes and dreams. The story goes to a flashback to narrate the events that happened 10 years ago.

In 1930, Surya Sen and his followers are protesting the death of the revolutionary Jatin Das. Jhunku is not allowed to join them by his lawyer father who wants him to study in England. Apart from fearing his father, Jhunku is also torn between his admiration and respect for the magistrate, Wilkinson Barry John and his wife, who show great likings for him and his fascination for the charismatic figure of Masterda, who is followed and revered by most of his friends. Jhunku, due to his faith in Wilkinson who is personally against torturing revolutionaries, has great belief in British justice and believes that by getting an English education he might better equip himself to free his country. This causes arguments between him and his friends, especially Aparna. Wilkinson is opposed by the police inspector Major Johnson who defies his orders and arrests the protesters, and badly tortures Masterda.

In protest, some students hit the strict police officer Maj. Johnson (Alexx O'Nell) by spilling oil under his motorbike, making him fall. Enraged, Johnson makes random enquiries about the culprits but are unsuccessful. However, Wilkinson manages to confirm the truth out of Jhunku, and an enraged Johnson then shoots Sukhen (Shaheb Bhattacharya), one of the boys involved. This incident makes Jhunku an outcast amongst his friends, and he becomes determined to avenge the death of Sukhen. Soon afterwards, Johnson is made the DIG of police although Wilkinson had requested his transfer. This incident further shocks Jhunku. All his faith on his tutor Sir Wilkinson is lost, and he joins Masterda's army. Meanwhile Pritilata Waddedar (Vega Tamotia) a school teacher by profession, is fascinated by the ideologies of Masterda and has great admiration for him. She wishes to join him in his future plans against the British Rule. She also appears to be in love with Nirmal sen (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) but he is reluctant to express his feelings.

Masterda and his comrades Nirmal Sen, Loknath Bal (Rajkummar Rao), Ambika Chakraborthy (Dibyendu Bhattacharya) and Ananta Singh (Jaideep Ahlawat) train the 50-odd students and plan to capture the town of Chittagong on 18 April 1930 by disconnecting all modes of communication. As per plan, the armoury of the police is captured by a group of revolutionaries led by Ganesh Ghosh and revolutionaries, led by Lokenath Baul takes over the Auxiliary Force armoury. Unfortunately the machine guns are not located. The revolutionaries also dislocate telephone and telegraph communications and disrupt the movement of the trains. After the successful raids, all the revolutionary groups gathered outside the police armoury where Surya Sen takes a military salute, hoisting the national flag and proclaims a provisional revolutionary government. The whole town is overjoyed at the success of Indian Republican Army and Chittagong is officially conquered by Surya Sen and his boys for one day. However, reinforcements from Calcutta soon set out to capture the rebels. Knowing of the army attack, the revolutionaries leave town before dawn and march towards the Jalalabad hill ranges, looking for a safe place. But the British Army's first wave is demolished by Masterda's teenagers. This enrages the British and they bring in machine guns. Harish also known as Tegra, the younger brother of Lokenath and a friend of Jhunku, dies.

Soon after revolutionaries disperse in smaller groups, to nearby villages. Ahsanullah Khan (Anurag Arora) from CID comes to Chittagong and cracks down on the revolutionaries. Jhunku is arrested and is severely beaten by Johnson and Ahsanullah during interrogation; he refuses to betray his leaders and comrades. He is sentenced to Kaala-Paani for life imprisonment. In due course, many revolutionaries and police officials are killed in the gun fights including noted revolutionary Nirmal Sen and police CID chief Ahsanullah. However, Pritilata Waddedar successfully attacks the Pahartali European Club and assassinates DIG Johnson; being gravely wounded she commits suicide by swallowing cyanide.

After a prolonged search, police search and arrests Master Da Surya Sen and sentences him to death by hanging. Thus Jhunku ends narrating the part and says that he was released in 1939 and again participated in the uprisings with Aparna. In one such incident there is a plan to attack the government godowns where the Britishers and feudal landlords have kept common peasant's grain. The British block all the roads to godowns leading Jhunku to an idea to create underground dungeons till the granaries. Twenty villages join hands and operate. The last scene shows Jhunku being stopped by Maj. Wilkinson who says he is still sympathetic to Jhunku and wants him to go away else he will be bound to arrest him once again. Jhunku signals to Wilkinson that everyone is awake and shows him the mass crowd arising from the dungeons and heading towards the government granaries that forces Wilkinson to retreat. This is named the Tebagha Uprising of 1945, which marked the end of British Raj in India. The film ends with the memorable song "Ishaan."

Cast

Controversy

Anurag Kashyap posted a message on his Facebook account accusing Amitabh Bachchan of using his clout for delaying the release of Chittagong, as his son Abhishek Bachchan's upcoming film Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey was also based on the Chittagong uprising.[23] Bedabrata Pain, though, said it was delayed due to the distributors suggesting to postpone it despite him preferring it to release before Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey. He also said that Abhishek and his mother Jaya Bhaduri had loved the script when he went to offer the role to Abhishek.[24]

Soundtrack
Chittagong
Soundtrack album by
Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Released2012
Recorded2011
GenreFeature film soundtrack
LanguageHindi
LabelYellow And Red Music
Shankar Ehsaan Loy chronology
Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum
(2012)		 Chittagong
(2012)		 Delhi Safari
(2012)

All lyrics are written by Prasoon Joshi; all music is composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy.

Tracklist
No.TitleSinger(s)Length
1."Bolo Na"Shankar Mahadevan4:57
2."Bechayan Sapne"Abhijeet Sawant, Gulraj Singh, Mahalakshmi Iyer, Sameer Khan, Shankar Mahadevan4:56
3."Jeeney Ki Wajah"Aarti Sinha, Mani Mahadevan, Kshitij Wagh, Pooja Gopalan, Raman Mahadevan, Shreekumar Vakkiyil3:42
4."Ishan"Aarti Sinha, Bedabrata Pain, Kshitij Wagh, Mani Mahadevan, Pooja Gopalan, Raman Mahadevan, Shreekumar Vakkiyil3:52
5."The Battle" 2:07
6."Inspiration" 1:04
7."Masterda" 0:58
8."Chittagong" 2:04

Reception

The album was met with critical acclaim. Kartik of Milliblog praised the album, calling it a "classy opening to Shankar Ehsaan Loy’s 2012 account".[25] Music Aloud remarked that the soundtrack was the 'best of SEL in a long time'.[26] DunkDaft quoted about the music as 'A sheer delightful soundtrack for the period film'.[27]

Khalid Mohamed praised the score as "evocative",[28] while Shabna Ansari of NDTV deemed it "soulful".[29]

Promotion

A special screening of Chittagong was done in Mumbai on 3 October 2012 at Cinemax Versova, a western Mumbai suburb. Several Bollywood biggies including Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Resul Pookutty and Anil Kapoor turned up to support the filmmaker.[30]

Critical reception
Professional reviews
Review scores
Source Rating
DNA India
The Times of India
Bollywood Hungama
Rediff

The film was released worldwide on 12 October 2012. It garnered mostly positive reviews from critics.

Srijna Mitra Das of Times of India gave it 3.5 stars. "Like a Chittagong orchid, the movie takes time to blossom - but when it does, it's beautiful. And pleases a certain master" said ToI.[31] Rediff Movies called Chittagong honest and gave it 3 stars: "Chittagong is an important film despite its shortcomings," writes Raja Sen of rediff.[32] Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave 3.5 stars.[33] Aniruddha Guha of DNA gave it 3.5 stars. "Chittagong is the kind of film that will leave you with a heavy heart, and moved. Give it a shot." said DNA.[34] MOZVO, social movie rating site, gave Chittagong 3.5 out of 5 making it a 'Recommended' movie.[35] Shubra Gupta of the Indian Express gave 3.5 stars.[36] Jim Luce of Huffington Post wrote "The film Chittagong is a brilliant, poignant action-drama, made more so by the fact that it is true."[37]

Accolades
List of positive awards and nominations
Award Category Recipient Result Reference
Colors Screen Awards Best Production Design Samir Chanda, Amit Roy, Pradeep Jha Nominated [38]
National Film Awards Best Debut Film of a Director Bedabrata Pain Won [39]
Best Male Playback Singer Shankar Mahadevan - "Bolo Na"
Best Lyrics Prasoon Joshi - "Bolo Na"
Mirchi Music Awards Raag-Inspired Song of the Year "Bolo Na" [40]

References
  1. "The Pioneer". Dailypioneer.com. 1 January 1970. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  2. Mumbai Mirror (23 August 2012). "Chittagong to be released in October". The Times of India. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
  3. "Release Dates | Bollywood Box Office". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
  4. "Young rebels-chittagong budget -4.5 cr-one-tenth of Khele jee jan sey 45 cr". Business Standard. 1 October 2011. Retrieved 1 October 2011.
  5. "Box Office Earnings 26/10/12 - 01/11/122 (Nett Collections in Ind Rs)". boxofficeindia. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  6. "Boxofficeindia.com". Boxofficeindia.com. 15 October 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
  7. "Boxofficeindia.com". Boxofficeindia.com. 14 October 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
  8. "Boxofficeindia.com". Boxofficeindia.com. 12 October 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
  9. "Chittagong Premieres at 10th Annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles". uprisingradio.org. 10 April 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
  10. Unny, Divya (26 March 2012). "'Chittagong' to finally see the light of day". Mid-day.com. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
  11. "Chittagong is not inspired by Manini Chatterjee's book - Pain | Bollywood News | Hindi Movies News | Celebrity News". BollywoodHungama.com. 10 October 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
  12. "Manoj Bajpayee, back in the limelight". Screenindia.com. 2 July 2010. Archived from the original on 10 September 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2011.
  13. "Manoj is back with a bang -STAR Box Office – News". Starboxoffice.com. 1 July 2010. Archived from the original on 3 March 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2011.
  14. "I'm in no competition with Abhishek: Manoj". The Times of India. 2 February 2010. Retrieved 3 July 2011.
  15. Chittagong to release on April 10
  16. "'Chittagong': Manoj Bajpayee took no money for the film". The Times of India. 28 September 2012. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  17. Finally 'Chittagong' set for release Archived 15 September 2012 at Archive.today
  18. PTI 10 Oct 2012, 02.24PM IST (10 October 2012). "'Chittagong' is great cinema: Manoj Bajpayee". The Times of India. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
  19. "Vega Tamotia's next a romantic-comedy opposite Vir Das". Indian Express. 10 October 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
  20. "A still from "Chittagong" movie". Filmitown.com. 23 November 2011. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
  21. Ians (8 September 2012). "Nawaz, Manoj turn revolutionaries for 'Chittagong'". Entertainment.in.msn.com. Archived from the original on 11 September 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
  22. "Nawaz, Manoj turn revolutionaries for 'Chittagong'". The Times of India. 7 September 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
  23. "Anurag Kashyap accuses Big B of postponing release of Chittagong". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved 3 July 2011.
  24. "The pain of creation : Interview". The Hindu. Retrieved 3 July 2011.
  25. "Chittagong (Music review), Hindi – Shankar Ehsaan Loy by Milliblog!". 29 September 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2012. Classy opening to Shankar Ehsaan Loy’s 2012 account!
  26. "Chittagong - Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack): Music Aloud". 29 September 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2012. Chittagong is the best SEL has sounded in a long time, hope the soundtrack gets the exposure it deserves. Music review of Chittagong
  27. "Chittagong-Music Review by DunkDaft". DunkDaft. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  28. "Chittagong review: Solid content, technically stylish". Deccan Chronicle. 13 October 2012. Retrieved 13 October 2012. aided by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s evocative music score
  29. "The After Hrs review: Chittagong is compelling - Entertainment - DNA". 13 October 2012. Retrieved 13 October 2012. The film is seen through the eyes of the youngest soldier in the Indian freedom struggle – Subodh Roy aka Jhunku (Delzad Hiwale).
  30. "PIX: SRK, Bachchans at Chittagong premiere - Rediff.com Movies". Rediff.com. 4 October 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
  31. "Chittagong film review". Times of India. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
  32. "Review: Chittagong is an honest film". Rediff. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  33. "Chittagong". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  34. "Aniruddha Guha reviews: Chittagong will leave you with a heavy heart". DNA India. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  35. "Chittagong Review". MOZVO. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
  36. "Quiet Revolution". The Indian Express. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
  37. "A Gandhi for Our Age: Indian Film on Independence". Huffington Post. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
  38. "Colors Screen Awards: 'Barfi', 'GoW', 'Vicky Donor' lead the list of nominations". IBNLive. 2 January 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
  39. "60th National Film Awards: Regulations" (PDF) (Press release). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  40. "Winners - Mirchi Music Award Hindi 2012". www.radiomirchi.com. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
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